RomanPunks is a retrofuturistic, cyberpunk derivative world-building project inspired by fine art, history and the cryptopunk movement.
A total of 1,000 RomanPunk characters have been frozen in time and minted as Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum, WAX, Polygon and Algorand blockchains.
RomanPunk characters are comprised of commoners and famous individuals based on Roman history, art history and pop culture.
The basis for RomanPunk lore and backstories is exhaustively researched by history/sci-fi buff and co-founder, Punktavian.
All images are drawn by hand by woman artist and co-founder, Cleopunktra, without the aid of AI or generative tools.
RomanPunks came into existence through early minting on OpenSea, promoting on Twitter and building a Discord community through giveaways and engagement. The idea of a cyberpunk-derivative ‘RomanPunk’ theme was in our heads for years, but it was the success of the Cryptopunks that became the catalyst for project conception and launch.
After a hard working first 60 days spent networking and attracting new collectors to RomanPunks, our community had begun to flourish and sales increased. We began to offer our collectors an opportunity to battle their NFTs in a tournament bracket powered by dice rolls.
Encouraged by the tight knit community and the carbon-neutral blockchain with lightning fast and low cost transactions, we launched 'romanpunksio' collection on WAX Blockchain as the first step to expand the backstories of our RomanPunk characters and the baseline for future development of a card game.
RomanPunks integrated with Chainlink Labs to utilize VRF (Verified Randomness Function) to host a giveaway raffle for our holders. We developed a smart contract on Ethereum which guarantees true random number selection on chain and can be used for a wide range of functions that require random selection.
After much anticipation in the community, we released our first WAX NFT card 'pack' through the Neftyblocks platform, which sold out in less than a week.
We launched our Twitch channel and begun building an audience by offering numerous giveaways of WAX NFTs from our collection, as well as giving participants a chance to win RomanPunk ETH NFT airdrops for taking top spot at the end of the 'season'.
As firm believers in a metaverse future and land owners in The Sandbox, we undertook to build the RomanPunk Colosseum on 1x1 land and entered our experience "Gladiator Bloodsport" into a GameJam contest. We will continue to build the Colosseum into a PVP arena and social hub once The Sandbox offers creators the ability to do so.
Thanks to the user friendly tools offered by NeftyBlocks, we launched a comprehensive blending system on WAX, allowing our collectors to blend the common NFTs they earn in our Discord RPG up into Legendary famous NFTs through the use of blending 'coins' that can also be earned on the Discord as reward for helping to promote the RomanPunks project.
We launched the VX collection on Polygon. Each owner of an ETH NFT gets their voxel equivalent airdropped to them, and these NFTs can be redeemed for official NFTs on The Sandbox Marketplace once available.
All 1,000 original, unique 1:1 RomanPunk characters hand drawn by Cleopunktra and minted on OpenSea.
The RomanPunk WAX NFT Trading Card Fighter Pack Series II consists of 3 NFTs randomly selected from over 236 characters.
Upcoming plans for RomanPunks include:
Below is a comprehensive and searchable directory of all 1,000 RomanPunk Characters.
Born 129 BC in Palermo, Baal is a sailor whose ship was sucked into an interdimensional portal whirlpool, sending him to the 22nd century where he became a full-time degen, dealing in politically subversive metaverse experiences that challenge the effete Neo-Carthaginian kleptocracy.
Born 200 BC in Xanthos, Matilda was chief librarian of the legendary Library of Lycia until cyborg and alien invaders annexed her homeland during the heyday of the Roman Republic. To escape enslavement, she conjured an interdimensional portal from ancient Sumerian texts, leaving to establish a rare used book store in 1980s AD Manhattan.
Born in 106 AD in Tarraco, Spain, Gertrudis was a soldier in the fabled legion of vampire hunters who traveled through dimensional portals seeking to destroy the antediluvian scourge across space and time.
Born in 144 BC in Gordion, Morys, a blacksmith, and his brother Pierpont, an accountant, were enslaved by the Romans and forced into gladiator combat. Morys was shipped off to an alternate dimension, dedicating his life to return and watch over his younger sibling.
Born 197 BC in Nikonion, Joe was born a slave, toiling in the vast wheat fields of the steppe until one day he saved his master’s life by killing a Pontic magistrate who had come to arrest and execute him for tax evasion. Freed, now Joe lives life on the run.
Born in 109 BC in Coracesium, Calypso was an infamous pirate queen who wreaked havoc on Roman shipping until she was captured by Pompey and sentenced to fight in the gladiator pits of Rome.
Born 2114 AD in Rome, not much is known about Galla other than she is a dimension hopping cyber-mercenary who dismantles empires through time targeted assassinations.
Born 277 AD in Petra, Ruth was sentenced to death for sacrificing children to Pluto. She opted to die by glory and face an impossibly difficult opponent to the death in the gladiator arena.
Born 211 BC in Pergamon, Artox was a harpastum player who later became a champion of the cyber x-games after being transported to the 33rd century AD by an unknown entity.
Born in 353 BC in the once mighty kingdom of Phrygia, Gordi welcomed the invasion of Alexander the Great, following his conquests through Asia and Egypt where he fell into a dimensional portal and became pressed into the service of a demonic army from a distant time and place.
Born 55 BC in Babylon, Shamma is a gifted lyre player who was abducted by time traffickers, brainwashed and forced to perform in a karaoke band in 26th century AD Neo-Byzantium.
Born in 117 AD in Barcino, Lita displayed exceptional martial arts talents, so was hand picked to be the personal bodyguard of Hadrian; however, on his death Lita was forced to join the Emperor in his tomb. While attempting to escape, she discovered a dimensional portal which cast her to a parallel universe set in an atomic age. As an outsider, her only option was to battle for survival in the cybercolosseum.
Born in 404 AD in a herd of nomads, Takuka was forced to marry at 11, murdered her husband at 13 and became a gladiator champion at 16. Now she travels across dimensions thirsting for blood and glory in the ring.
Born 420 AD in Ostia, Bluto is a Bacchanalian degenerate and former slave who gained his freedom by blackmailing his treasonous master who also allowed Bluto to hold an endless toga party in his expansive villa, which lasted until this Broski perished of alcohol poisoning and an overdose of the munchies.
Born 1918 AD in an atompunk dimension in Scodra, Lavinia is a socialite who avoids the sun’s warmth outside her VR sanctuary on the Adriatic coast. From her retrofuturistic refuge, Lavinia spends days browsing the latest virtual couture and nights immersed in smoky, jazz-infused metaverse lounges. Heiress to a vast fortune amassed from Queen Teuta’s legendary pirate booty, she rarely entertains visitors but is quietly enamored with a Dacian vampire she met online. While their meeting IRL remains out of reach, Lavinia’s fascination with him only deepens, tempting her to blur the line between a curated digital life and the world outside her goggles.
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© 2023 RomanPunks NFT
romanpunks@protonmail.ch
Registered in Ontario, Canada
